Development and Evaluation of Military Track Pads

Abstract

Rubber parts in U.S. Army Fighting Vehicles Track Systems are subjected to wear and require regular replacement. Replacement of the parts can be time consuming and can put the warfighter at danger if parts fail during combat situations. The goal of this project is to develop track pads with improved durability over the current approved pads. It was hypothesized that the mechanism of failure involves heat build-up and tear of the pads at elevated temperatures. PPG AGILON (registered trademark) silica has shown to provide reduced heat build-up over other available fillers in natural rubber-based compounds. Track pads were developed at PPG, scaled-up at AirBoss of America LLC and tested at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground on an A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Track pads showed durability significantly above the qualification requirements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2023
Accession Number
AD1193534

Entities

People

  • Chris Tolliver
  • Lucas D. Freire

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Elastomers
  • Elongation
  • Energy Management
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Fillers
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Hardness
  • High Temperature
  • Hysteresis
  • Losses
  • Maintenance Costs
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Materials Testing
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Natural Rubber
  • Production
  • Prototypes
  • Resilience
  • Rubber
  • Synthetic Rubber
  • Systems Engineering

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Military Science
  • Reinforced Composite Materials